Boss with bad reps?

[susan silva]

How do you handle when your boss has a bad reputation in the company? When they are known for not responding in a timely manner? As an admin we can only do so much, but when they are out of the office, leave early, kid stuff etc work slides and keeps sliding. (are male bosses different then female bosses?)

[peaches2160]

When your leader is responsible and dependable, it shows in their reputation and results.  When they are not dependable, it will ultimately catch up if they are held accountable. 

My experience has been, men and women are different to work with.  The men I have had the opportunity to work with in an EA capacity, are true professionals, and I know where I stand.  On the other hand, the female was a challenge.  Very indecisive, no communication, and when we did communicate, I doubted every word.  My male leaders are respected and I am proud to work with them.  However, I do know female executives I do respect.  There are some though that get caught up in the gossip and emotion.  Men are more fact based and non emotional. 

[sanpet]

Thank god I have a boss many respect, but I do work with someone who supports a manager we all dread having to deal with.  He is late on everything, undependable, I have to say everyone knows it is the manager and is assistant is the only thing keeping him in the company.   She gets things done.  I have no idea how!  He gets iin late, disappears and never comes back.  I think he just doesnt care about this job, or so it appears.

[countrigal]

I can honestly say that I have not seen a noticable difference in working for male bosses or female bosses.  It's more of a personality than gender thing.  I've had male bosses who don't understand "women issues" or kids or family responsibilities, and I've had female bosses that are either the same way or go to the "been there, handled it without it affecting work, you can too" mentality.

When I worked for a boss that was known to be slow or non-responsive, then I made it my goal to limit those times to the best of my ability.  We worked out a system where I set reminders well in advance of the due date, to give bossie the impression that it was due sooner than it was, or where I could handle some issues with just a modicum of input from bossie, or any other avenues I could use to help ensure deadlines were met.  However, we can't do everything for them, and if they won't be responsible for themselves, there is only so much we can do... at which point we CYA on what actions we HAVE taken to assist them and let them go.

[Katie G]

I had one of those bosses about 20 years ago and his answer to every one of his missed deadlines, non-responses, lack of follow-up, etc. etc, was to throw me under the bus.  70 percent of the time, I didn't even know what was going on because he flatly refused to communicate with me.  The 30 percent I did know about, I reminded, nagged, tried to start drafts to help, you name it, all of which were rebuffed.  He would also disappear for hours on end leaving me to sound like an idiot on the phone when his boss (who was 1500 miles away) would call.  (This was before cell phones were common.) 

I suppose it's no surprise that my performance review was not good.  Everything he dismissed, forgot, didn't care about, that eventually came back to bite him in the rear end was listed as "failings" on my part. 

Fortunately, my other manager (they were supposed to be sharing me) saw what was going on and brought me on full time onto his budget.  HR had this clown's number as well.  I remember the woman from HR calling me to make sure I was okay.  This guy had a nationwide rep for being a goof off, but he was so close to retirment they just let him ride it out. 

[peaches2160]

KatieG

This is an example of how these situations usually work.  If you are doing a good job, it reflects in your work.  The opposite is also true.

[Owens]

I've had a few bosses who would not return calls, follow up, get things in on time, etc.  Yes, it affected me directly.  I was constantly smoothing things over and spending a lot of time answering calls from people asking why something wasn't done.  I can't tell you how many times I had to listen to abusive language, etc. from irate callers.

As for male vs female, I've seen differences at times.  Oddly enough, male bosses seem to appreciate what I bring to the table in terms of years of experience and skill.  Female bosses tend to look down because I have not attained the same career levels.  One boss made up for all the nasty females.  She won an award and invited me to the luncheon.  On accepting, she thanked me for my role in assisting her and admonished other women of position not to forget their sisters in the workplace.  I almost could not hold back tears.